Women's History Month got off to a bumpy start at Maclay High School when a literature teacher was suspended for three days because a student wrote the name for a part of the female genitalia on the classroom whiteboard.

And students and recent graduates are rallying behind Suzanne Jamir, who has taught at Maclay since 2013.

The activity sounded innocent enough. Students throughout the non-sectarian, private college prep school were invited to write feminist graffiti on Jamir’s whiteboard in honor of the month. The activity was meant to be ongoing. It was Thursday, March 1, first period.

"Raise girls and boys the same way," one student wrote. "Black women are women, too," wrote another. "Trans women are women, too," another added. To reflect their reading, others quoted from Roxane Gay's "Bad Feminist."

But things escalated when a student wrote the word “clit” in 2-foot tall letters. Another student took a photo of the word and sent it to his mother, who was offended and contacted administrators. Jamir was told of the concern and erased the word after second period.

At the end of third period, Dean of Students Brandon Burrows came into her classroom and erased the entire board. Students immediately started to rebuild the board with generic women empowerment quotes and sayings.

Administrators later admonished Jamir and threatened to cancel the following week's International Women's Day celebration. Jamir, who sponsors the creative writing club, emailed sponsors of other clubs asking them to join her in co-hosting the event in an effort to keep it on track.

However, after the weekend, on March 6, Jamir was suspended. An April visit from black, queer poet Danez Smith, whose work her students were studying, was canceled. The International Women's Day celebration went on as scheduled.

School administrators declined to discuss their disciplinary action.

"It is a longstanding Maclay policy that we do not discuss internal personnel issues out of respect for our faculty, students, and our Maclay community as a whole," Kim McWilliams, the director of communications, said in an email last week.

News of the suspension spread quickly. Alum Logan Rivers, who attended Maclay for 14 years, heard about it in a group chat.

"Everyone was just like, 'Are you kidding me?'" the 19-year-old Yale University student said. "It was just unbelievable, but at the same time it was the type of thing I have come to expect from Maclay."

Students, who affectionately called Jamir "Jam Jam," rallied in support of her. They started a letter-writing campaign. A Change.org petition garnered more than 700 signatures before it was closed. A few students went to school administrators seeking an explanation.

"Since (Maclay) is so small, you create a bond with each and every teacher there," said 19-year-old Ava McCrary who spent her entire education at the K-12 school and signed the petition.

Rivers and McCrary, who both graduated last spring, said Jamir is well liked. They said she encouraged her students to read feminist literature and poetry by marginalized people. Rivers said she was one of the most progressive and outspoken teachers on campus.

Jamir declined to comment. She will return to campus Monday when spring break ends.

Contact Ashley White at adwhite@Tallahassee.com or on Twitter @AshleyyDi.